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A  Broader  Mission  for 

Liberal  Education 


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'Baccalaureate  ^ddres^, 
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A.gricttUural  College  Chapel, 
Sunday,  June  9,  1901. 


■By 

J.  H.  WORST,  LL.  D. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

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IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/broadermissionfoOOworsrich 


A  Broader  Mission  for  Liberal 
Education, 


Baccalaureate  Address,  Delivered  in  Agricultural 
College  Chapel,  Sunday,  June   9,    1901. 


BY  J.   H.  WORST,    LL   D 


AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE  P.  O., 
North  Dakota. 


LCI  O^'h 


i.r«- 


•    «     •  I 


272697 


H  BROflDEB  PIISSION  FOB  LIBEEHL  EDGGSTION. 


BAOCALAUKEATE     ADDRESS^    DELIVERED     IN     AGRICULTURAL     COLLEGE 
CHAPEL^    SUNDAY^    JUNE    9,    1901. 


BY  J.  H.  WORST^  LL.  D.^  PRESIDENT. 


In  America  we  recognize  no  aristocracy  except  that  of  genius 
or  of  cliaracter.  Our  countrymen  are  all  citizens.  Our  government 
Avas  founded  upon  the  principle  that  "all  men  are  created  free  and 
equar^  and  though  intellectual  endowments  differ  widely  in  indi- 
viduals, yet  special  privileges  are  accorded  to  no  one  as  a  birthright. 
Therefore  the  college  graduate,  as  well  as  any  other  aspirant,  must 
carve  his  way  to  fame  and  fortune  by  energy  and  perseverance,  or 
lose  his  opportunity  in  the  tremendous  activities  going  on  about 
him.  His  only  advantage  is  superior  training  which  must  never- 
theless be  pitted  against  practical  minds  in  strenuous  rivalry  for 
every  desirable  thing  he  would  accomplish.  The  mere  fact  of 
education  is  considered  no  badge  of  merit.  Education  represents 
power,  but  until  it  manifests  itself  in  action,  it  is  merely  static,  not 
dynamic,  potential,  not  actual.  It  conveys  to  its  recipient  no 
self-acting  machinery  which,  without  lubricant  or  engineer  will 
reel  off  success  or  impress  mankind,  as  a  matter  of  course. 

The  question  is  no  longer  asked  by  practical  men  "what  does  a 
man  know'''  but  "what  can  he  do  T^  Knowing  and  doing  have  thus 
become  so  intimately  associated  by  common  consent  as  to  be 
inseparable;  for  knowing  without  doing  is  indolence  and  doing 
without  Knowing  is  w^aste  of  energy.  1'he  former  is  sinful,  the 
latter  wasteful.  For  many  years  progressive  educators  have  been 
striving  against  the  culture-alone  theory  and  advocating  the  educa- 
tion of  the  whole  man — hand  as  well  as  head,  body  as  well  as  mind. 
As  a  result  the  ancient  educational  structure  is  pretty  well  broken 


down,  and  the  erstwhile  curriculum  has  become  a  reminiscence. 
Many  wealthy  parents  still  educate  "^their  children  for  the  larger 
pleasure  which  they  believe  education  of  the  old  type  ^<'ill  afford 
tnem  in  life,  but  parents  generally  have  come  to  look  upon  life 
as  a  period  of  intense  activity  rather  than  a  brief  round  of  pleasure, 
and  hence  provide  an  education  for  their  children  that  will  fit  them 
for  the  every  day  demands  that  duty  or  necessity  may  make  upon 
them.  Since  it  is  a  matter  of  common  observation  that  wealth  is 
easily  dissipated,  especially  when  inherited,  farseeing  parents 
prefer  an  education  for  their  children  that  is  adapted  to  some 
useful  end  rather  than  the  education  that  is  largely  ornamental 
or  fashionable. 

The  vicissitudes  of  life  are  many.  Fortune  is  fickle  and  but 
few  young  people  can  hope  to  command  perpetual  leisure  even 
should  their  bad  judgment  make  such  a  thing  desirable.  There 
can  never  be  real  independence  of  thought  and  action  apart  from 
one's  conscious  ability  to  cope  with  others  on  equal  terms  in  any 
human  emergency.  The  young  man  who  rejoices  in  the  provident 
hoardings  of  his  ancestors  which  exempt  him  from  strenuous 
exertion  on  his  ovv-n  part  has  but  a  small  mission  in  life.  Work  is 
the  normal  condition  of  maij.  The  stern  necessity  that  compels  him 
to  labor,  to  think  and  to  plan,  lifts  him  into  the  pleasurable 
atmosphere  of  usefulness  and  imparts  zeal  and  ambition  to  his 
energies.  There  can  be  no  "excellence  without  great  labor'',  and 
"hard  work  is  only  another  name  for  genius.*' 

A  young  man  cannot  begin  life  with  a  richer  heritage  than 
good  health,  good  habits  and  a  liberal  education — an  education 
-that  imparts  culture  to  his  mind  and  power  to  his  body.  If  he 
should  never  have  occasion  to  use  his  hands  in  some  useful  vocation, 
the  training  they  have  received  will  never  prove  burdensome.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  fact  of  being  in  possession  of  reserve  powers  will 
prove  a  source  of  pleasure.  It  will  dispel  many  a  dark  cloud  and  re- 
move positive  forebodings  of  possible  want.  The  world  is  strewn 
with  the  wrecks  of  men  who  inherited  fortunes  before  they  had  de- 
veloped the  mental  poise  or  business  experience  necessary  to  estimate 
money  at  its  true  value.  If  they  had  earned  their  money  by  honest 
effort  they  would  not  have  fallen  into  habits  that  led  to  unbridled 
-extravagance  and  ultimate  disgrace.  The  inheritance  of  unearned 
wealth  quite  frequently  proves  a  curse  rather  than  a  blessing. 


God  never  intended,  however,  that  parents  should  provide  a 
property  inheritance  for  their  children  that  will  deprive  them  of 
the  natural  advantages  which  reasonable  labor  and  its  restraining 
influence  afford  both  body  and  mind.  Parental  drudgery  and  self- 
denial  for  the  purpose  of  relieving  children  from  the  necessity  of 
wholesome  effort  is  mistaken  generosity.  It  makes  parent  and  child 
alike  fall  short  of  the  high  purposes  for  which  life  is  given.  For 
life  is  intended  for  more  important  purposes  than  mere  money- 
getting  or  the  pursuit  of  objects  from  which  man  is  utterly  divorced 
at  death.  Poor  indeed  must  be  the  soul  if,  at  death,  it  must  part 
from  all  it  loved  in  life.  But  this  frenzy  of  excitement  in  which 
'  parents  live  in  order  that  their  children  may  be  heirs  leaves  no  time 
for  the  consideration  of  higher  and  better  things.  How  much  more 
lamentable,  too,  is  such  striving  in  the  light  of  the  fact  that  those 
who  are  to  be  benefited  by  these  inheritances  are  in  reality  harmed 
and  checked  in  their  development.  Said  Senator  Dolliver:  "If  I 
had  a  son  and  $100,000.  I  would  keep  the  two  apart." 

Every  man  owes  a  duty  to  God,  to  his  country,  to  his  family 
and  to  himself.  To  discharge  these  obligations  honestly,  fearlessly 
and  with  credit  should  be  his  earnest  purpose.  No  ambition  should 
be  entertained  that  does  not  embrace  these  fundamental  duties  and 
no  career  should  be  considered  worthy  that  even  underrates  their 
sanctity.  The  fact  that  men  occasionally- become  prominent  in 
business,  social  and  political  affairs  by  subordinating  conscience 
and  character  to  position  or  gain  should  not  swerve  a  young  man 
from  the  strict  path  of  rectitude.  Victories  won  by  strategy  or  in- 
justice, whether  in  business  or  politics,  seldom  remain  permanent 
and  never  afford  substantial  enjoyment.  Society  has  but  little  use 
for  the  man  who  wears  a  mask. 

In  this  busy  world  there  is  honest  work  for  every  man  to 
perform.  Civilization  has  multiplied  human  wants  and  also  de- 
veloped the  ingenuity  necessary  to  gratify  them.  But  it  requires 
labor.  Not  such,  however,  as  was  performed  by  the  slave,  but 
skilled  labor — labor  where  the  hand  is  guided  by  an  intellect, 
quickened  by  the  agency  of  class-room  and  laboratory  for  the  task 
assigned;  labor,  such  as  will  reflect  credit  upon  and  elevate  a 
gentleman.  For  there  is  no  honest  work  a  gentleman  may  not  do. 
Work  elevates  a  man.  It  perpetuates  the  manhood  he  inherited, 
which  was  built  up  by  labor  and  thought  in  the  flesh  and  blood  of 


his  ancestors.  The  necessity  for  labor,  therefore  is  heaven's  blessing 
and  to  repudiate  it  is  to  invite  physical  and  mental  decay. 

Liberal  education  should  take  a  far  wider  range  than  has  ever 
been  assigned  to  it  and  exert  an  influence  affecting  matter  as  well 
as  mind.  It  has  a  double  mission,  that  of  facilitating  earning 
power  to  provide  for  physicah  comforts  and  also  to  prepare  them 
to  live. 

In  a  republic  where  every  able  bodied  citizen  is  an  equal  factor 
and  where  one  is  possessed  of  mutual  privileges  and  obligations, 
society  demands  that  each  shall  do  his  part.  To  be  consistent 
society  also  should  afford  equal  educational  facilities  for  all; 
facilities  having  as  direct  bearing  upon  vocation  as  upon  profession, 
and  for  those  desiring  it,  an  educational  training  as  liberal  for 
manual  pursuits  as  is  required  for  law,  medicine  or  theology. 

The  standard  of  manhood  must  advance  to  meet  the  new 
conditions  and  the  tremendous  responsibilities  of  the  century  we 
have  entered  upon.  Within  the  present  boundaries  of  the  United 
States  there  exists  the  requisite  area,  soil  fertility  and  other 
resources  sufficient  to  support  a  government  of  five  hundred  million 
people.  Our  patriotism,  therefore,  must  be  directed  toward  realiz- 
ing the  largest  possible  destiny  for  our  country.  We  should  strive 
so  to  conserve  the  natural  resources  of  the  nation  that  with  six 
or  seven  times  our  present  population  there  will  be  no  abridgment 
of  opportunity  to  make  a  living  and  to  fulfill  the  purpose  for  which 
life  was  created.  The  experiment  of  self-government  will  have 
to  withstand  severer  strains  in  the  future  than  in  the  past  unless 
our  education  is  as  democratic  as  our  politics.  The  educational 
energies  of  the  nation  must  be  so  diffused  as  to  uplift  all  classes, 
reducing  to  the  smallest  possible  minimum  the  army  of  unskilled 
workmen.  Through  skill  and  training,  labor  must  become  pleasure. 
iSteam  and  electricity  must  take  the  place  of  human  energy,  lessen 
waste  of  raw  material  and  elevate  the  hand  that  guides  the  machine. 

The  present  generation  is  sinfully  extravagant.  Forests,  mines 
and  soil  fertility  are  wasted  with  wanton  prodigality.  We  speak 
of  our  coal  deposits  and  oil  and  gas  wells  as  inexhaustible.  We 
simply  mean  that  it  will  be  impossible  for  this  and  probably  for 
the  next  generation  to  exhaust  them.  But  coal  mines  are  not 
inexhaustible.  Oil  and  gas  wells  are  problemetical  as  to  the  length 
of  time  they  will  yield  their  products.    To  such  an  extent  have  the 


forests  been  destroyed  that  substitutes  foT  timber  are  already  sought 
for  building  purposes  and  manufactures.  Timber  that  would  be 
worth  millions  of  dollars  to  our  grand  children  is  burned.'  in  a 
day  to  provide  a  sheep  pasture  on  some  western  mountain.  We 
seem  determined  to  waste  and  destroy  what  we  cannot  consume  or 
turn  into  ready  money. 

European  countries  abound  in  sad  memories  of  wasted  soil 
fertility  and  forest  destruction.  Slowly  but  surely  they  are  rebuild- 
ing and  rehabilitating  worn  out  tracts  at  tremendous  expense.  The 
ruin  which  ignorance  accomplished  with  alacrity,  education  is 
slowly  and  painfully  undoing.  Americans  should  heed  the  lessons 
of  history  and  profit  by  the  mistakes  of  other  countries.  The 
production  of  food,  clothing  and  other  necessaries  of  life  which  is 
of  vital  importance  to  a  nation,  cannot,  with  safety,  be  left  to 
blind  forces  or  to  revered  but  ignorant  traditions.  For  it  is  a 
singular  fact  that  science  had  quit^  as  much  to  do  with  ridding 
agriculture  and  the  manufacture  of  commodities  of  debilitating 
superstitions  that  not  only  retarded  progress  but  were  positively 
injurious  to  both  man  and  material,  as  it  had  to  do  with  the  intro- 
duction of  rational  ideas.  The  rapid  increase  of  the  world's  popula- 
tion and  the  very  general  occupancy  of  arable  lands  throughout  the 
world,  presupposes  that  the  maximum  of  food  production  will  soon 
be  reached.  A  liberal  and  general  diffusion  of  scientific  informa- 
tion among  agriculturists  alone  can  augment  the  productive  power 
of  the  soil  and  at  the  same  time  conserve  its  fertility  for  the 
support  of  future  generations.  This  subject  demands  a  real  awak- 
ening of  public  sentiment  as  to  its  importance.  Provision  must 
be  made  for  thorough  training  that  will  direct  the  labor  which 
produces  the  fruits  of  the  earth.  Thus  to  broaden  the  scope  of 
liberal  education  it  must  oe  divested  of  all  aristocratic  limitations 
and  rendered  sufficiently  democratic  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  sons 
of  toil. 

The  question  naturally  arises,  will  the  general  introduction  of 
science  studies  in  American  schools  tend  to  lower  the  standard 
of  scholarship?  If  so,  will  the  more  democratic  and  hence  utili- 
tarian influence  it  exerts,  compensate  for  the  change?  To  the 
first  question  the  classical  schools  will  quite  generally  and  naturally 
give  an  affirmative  answer.  But  the  answer  must  not  be  considered 
as  conclusive  in  settling  the  question  even  if  believed  to  be  true,  in 


view  of  the  contention  that  surrounds  the  second  question.  More 
than  scholarship  is  needed  to  direct  and  control  the  affairs  of  men. 
3Iere  scholarship — book-learning — is  seldom  effective  in  the  solu- 
tion of  intricate  national  and  economic  problems.  For  profound 
judgment  and  constructive  ability,  such  as  frequently  become 
imperative  in  great  crises  are  qualities  which  are  not  evolved 
through  classical  investigations.  They  are  born  rather  of  experi- 
ence and  contact  with  the  rugged  every  day  affairs  of  life.  To 
exert  a  guiding  influence  in  the  affairs  of  state  one  must  feel  the 
throb  of  living  forces  and  come  in  touch  with  the  great  heart 
of  hurnanity. 

The  study  of  ancient  languages  has  long  held  the  honored  place 
in  the  universities  of  Europe  and  America  as  peculiarly  essential 
to  mature  scholarship.  They  answered  the  purpose  intended,  for 
the  sciences  were  unknown  of  in  the  infancy  of  their  development 
and  there  vt^s  but  little  besides  the  ancient  languages  with  which 
to  train  the  student  mind.  But  should  they  dominate  the  curricula 
of  the  twentieth  century?  Do  they  meet  the  requirements  of  this 
intensely  practical  age? 

Whatever  may  be  said  against  the  materialistic  tendency  of 
the  present  time,  the  scholarship  of  the  idealists  at  least  did  not 
retard  its  growth.  Materialism  abounds  everywhere  at  present. 
The  object  sought  hj  introducing  scientific  in  lieu  of  classical 
studies  m  some  of  the  higher  institutions  of  learning  is  that  facil- 
ities may  be  afforded  the  children  of  the  productive  classes,  such 
as  they  can  accept  and  which  will  have  a  directing  influence  upon 
labor.  Whether  such  change  will  tend  to  increase  or  lessen  mater- 
ialistic tendencies,  remains  to  be  seen.  The  conditions  will  cer- 
tainly be  made  no  worse.  For  to  balance  educational  forces  and 
more  nearly  to  equalize  educational  opportunities  can  only  result 
in  improvement.  Equilibrium  of  intelligence  tends  to  unify  and 
harmonize  American  interests  and  to  strengthen  patriotism.  And 
should  liberal  scientific  education  thus  extend  its  beneficence  to  all 
conditions  of  men,  especially  to  those  hitherto  unprovided  with 
facilities  for  preparation  for  their  vocations,  we  can  at  least  endure 
the  innovation,  for  it  does  not  aim  at  the  impairment  of  educational 
opportunities  so  long  maintained  for  students  able  or  desirous  to 
take  classical  training.  Some  of  the  foremost  educators  of,  the  day 
admit  that  the  study  of  the  sciences  possess  as  much  disciplinary 


value  as  that  of  tae  ancient  languages,  and  the  information  ob- 
tained, even  though  incidental  to  the  culture  sought  after  is  of 
inestimable  value  in  the  practical  affairs  of  life.  The  fact  that 
but  few  instructors  are  prepared  to  teach  the  sciences  as  creditably 
as  they  are  to  teach  the  ancient  languages,  does  not  weaken  the 
claims  set  up  lor  scientific  education.  In  the  opinion  of  many 
sound  educators,  the  .cultural  advantages  of  the  dead  languages, 
all  things  considered,  are  received  at  the  expense  of  more  important 
subjects.  Says  The  Worlds  Work:  "The  easier  and  better  way 
cf  retaining,  restoring  and-  greatly  broadening  the  culture-studies 
cf  a  college  course  is  to  recognize  the  culture  of  our  own  language 
and  literature.  A  broader  and  saner  and  more  humane  and 
thorough  and  loving  study  of  the  literature  of  our  own  race  is 
the  obvious  way  out  of  the  dilemma.  And  it  is  more  than  an 
escape  from  a  dilemma.  It  is  a  better  means  of  broadening  and 
(..eepening  our  culture  than  we  have  ever  utilized  or  tried." 

The  ancient  classics  as  taught  in  high  schools  are  of  but 
little  cultural  value.  Not  one  student  in  a  hundred  reaches  the 
degree  of  attainment  that  presupposes  a  positive  benefit.  If  the 
time  were  devoted  to  acquiring  a  more  thorough  understanding 
of  our  mother  toiigue  it  would  be  more  creditable.  To  give  time 
to  translating  good  Latin  into  poor  English  is  paying  an  extrava- 
gant homage  to  a  fetish.  Training  in  the  ancient  languages  must 
be  long-continued  ana  far-reaching,  or  it  seems  to  be  of  little  value. 
The  needs  of  culture  cannot  be  satisfied  by  mere  discipline  any 
more  than  they  can  be  satisfied  by  merely  utilitarian  subjects.  But 
where  the  training  is  essentially  practical  and  directly  helpful 
in  discharging  the  highest  of  all  human  duties,  that  of  providing 
the  necessaries  of  life,  wnile  at  the  same  time  affording  abundant 
opportunity  for  the  study  ot'  the  language  and  literature  of  our  own 
race,  the  blending  thus  of  cultural  and  practical  training  should 
possess  a  clientage  immeasurably  larger,  because  more  useful,  than 
where  only  the  purely  cultural  is  sought.  Where  the  head  is  edu- 
-  cated  away  from  the  hand  and  the  number  fitted  for  ministerial 
and  professional  duties  far  overruns  the  demand  for  service,  a 
heavy  burden  is  imposed  upon  the  producing  masses.  At  the  same 
time  thousands  are  graduated  every  year  for  positions  that  have 
only  a  prospective  existence.  The  professions  are  overcrowded  to 
a  degree  that  challenges  the  sanity  of  the .  country's  educational 


energies.  And  were  it  not  for  the  gravity  of  the  theme,  the  stren- 
uous defense  that  is  set  up  for  the  system  and  the  efforts  put  forth 
every  day  to  still  further  augment  the  number  of  ncophites  for 
professional  honors,  it  would  seem  ridiculous. 

But  why  this  overcrowding?  Because  the  atmosphere  of  the 
professional  institution  fills  the  student  with  prejudice  against 
physical  labor.  It  is  menial.  His  education  has  fitted  him  for 
something  nobler  than  to  toil  in  the  field  or  in  the  work-shop. 
Jnstitutional  rivalry  also  does  its  share,  sending  out  alluring 
advertisements  and  thus  filling  the  college  classes  with  recruits 
from  the  farms  and  from  the  homes  of  labor  with  candidates  for 
positions  in  life  of  greater  respectability  than  their  parents  were 
able  to  enjoy.  The  seeds  of  prejudice  against  rural  life  and  manual 
labor  are  often  scattered  in  the  country  schools  by  teachers  inno- 
cently imbued  with  the  ''ideal  condition."  The  fascinations  and 
allurements  of  the  city  readily  impress  themselves  upon  the  youth- 
ful mind,  and  the  fact  that  facilities  for  liberal  education  were  not 
offered  for  the  relief  of  the  toiling  millions,  unless  to  transform 
them  into  a  different  social  element,  naturally  turned  the  eyes  of 
those  who  were  able  to  obtain  a  liberal  education  toward  the  cities. 

It  remained  for  the  federal  government  to  attempt  to  turn 
the  tide  that  was  setting  too  strongly  toward  urban  life.  The 
government's  remedy  is  not  prohibitive  legislation,  but  what  should 
have  been  afforded  without  direct  government  interference —  a 
liberal  education  with  a  direct  bearing  upon  agriculture  and  the 
mechanic  arts  for  those  who  naturally  desire  to  fit  themselves  for 
such  pursuits;  to  place  the  farmer  an  el  the  artisan  upon  an  intel- 
lectual and  social  plane  that  will  attract  rather  than  repel  those 
who  would  develop  the  country's  resources.  At  the  same  time  no 
effort  should  be  made,  for  the  sake  of  patronage  or  for  institutional 
advantage  to  inhuence  a  student  from  the  calling  his  heart  honestly 
indicates  as  the  one  for  which  natural  taste  and  native  ability, 
quickened  by  educational  training,  fits  him.  The  thing  to  be 
avoided,  rather,  is  the  inculcation  of  prejudice  against  useful 
vocations  and  desirable  pursuits  as  being  undignified  and  conse- 
quently beneath  the  notice  or  ambition  of  a  gentleman. 

Do  scientific  inquiry  and  scientific  knowledge  generally  dif- 
fused augment  human  greed?  Do  they  tend  to  promote  avarice? 
Most   certainly   they    do   not.      The   man   of   science    can   see   so 


much  beyond — so  much  of  beauty  and  design  that  even  the  drudgery 
o|  toil  is  forgotten  in  contemplation  of  the  forces  which  he  aids 
or  controls. 

No  thoughts  can  arise  above  the  thoughts  of  God  as  written 
in  the  growing  plant  or  pamted  upon  the  bow  that  arches  the  sky. 
To  tne  man  of  science,  even  the  raw  material  which  he  reconstructs 
into  useful  commodities  contains  a  revelation  in  every  grain  and 
fiber.  The  swelling  bud,  the  opening  flower,  the  growing  plant,  the 
greeting  shower,  each  is  a  chapter  from  Nature's  open  book,  full  of 
inspiration.  Beyond  tnem  and  above  them  he  sees  the  hand  and 
hears  the  voice  of  God.  Ana  since  he  lives  and  works  thus  close 
to  ^Nature's  throbbing  heart  and  in  close  communion  with  forces 
that  link  the  finite  to  the  Infinite,  who  dares  to  spurn  the  dignity 
of  his  toil  or  characterize  his  associations  as  menial. 

To  live  is  man^s  first  duty ;  to  live  well  his  privilege.  But  the 
world  has  its  severe  as  well  as  delightful  aspects.  The  divine  law 
which  commands  man  to  subdue  and  replenish  the  earth  is  not 
less  mandatory  than  that  other  law  which  commands  him  to  "lay 
up  treasure  in  heaven."  And  just  as  material  wants  antedate  the 
soul's  awakening  or  reason's  dawning,  so  throughout  all  life,  phys- 
ical well-being  precedes  and  contributes  to  the  growth  oT  the  higher 
life. 

But,  in  the  language  of  Herbert  Spencer:  "That  increasing 
acquaintance  with  the  laws  of  phenomenon  which  has  through 
succeiSsivie  ages  enabled  us  to  subjugate  Nature  to  our  needs,  arid 
in  these  days  gives  the  common  laborer  comforts  which  a  few  cen- 
turies ago,  kings  could  not  purchase,  is  scarcely  in  any  degree 
owed  to  appointed  means  of  instructing  our  youth.  The  vital 
knowledge — that  by  wnich  we  have  grown  as  a  nation  to  what  we 
are,  and  which  now  underlies  our  whole  existence,  is  a  knowledge 
that  has  got  itself  taught  in  nooks  and  corners ;  while  the  ordained 
agencies  for  teaching  have  been  mumbling  little  else  but  dead 
formulas. 

But  we  may  hope  for  better  things.  We  may,  some  of  us,  live 
even  to  see  liberal  education  divest  herself  of  exclusive  restrictions 
and  eighteenth  century  idealism  and  walk  hand  in  hand  with 
twentieth  century  progress;  this  will  be  when  the  "overwhelming 
influence  of  established  routine'^  shall  give  way  to  practical  knowl- 


edge  and  love  for  the  ornamental  in  education  shall  no  longer 
override  the  useful. 

E.  P.  Powel,  in  The  Arena  for  April,  most  beautifully  and 
expressively  contemplates  the  schools  which  are  to  be.     He  says: 
"I  will  picture  what  I  believe  to  be  the  common  school  of  the 
twentieth  century.     There  will  be  handsome  schoolhouses  in  abun- ' 
dance,  placed  in  the  center  of  large  gardens.     The  children  will 
study  books  half  a  day,  and  things  the  other ^  half.    The  brain'  will 
not  get  any  more  training  than  the  hands.     Manual  culture  which' 
is  already  a  part  of  the  scnool  life  of  a  few  towns,  will  be  a  part  of '^ 
school  life  everywhere.     The  school  will  have   its  shops  and  its 
gardens — and  to  use  tools  will  be  the  chief  end  of  culture.     Man 
got  away  from  the  monkey  by  his  power  to  make  and  use  tools.    He 
go'es  baelc  to  tiie  ape  when  his  hands  have  to  be  cased  in  gloves  mi 
his  brain  is  ashamed  of  decent  labor.    In  these  school-gardens  bot- 
any will  be  applied  to  horticulture.     In  the  shops  our  boys  and 
girls  will  learn  to  create  tilings.     The  trouble  with  education  ndw ' 
ife  that  it  divorces   knowledge   from  work — the  brains   from  the 
hands.     In  thfe  twe-Mieth  century  the  glory  of  American  education' 
will  also  b&a  thorough  knowledge  of  economics,  civics  and  history, 
applied 'to  good 'citii^enship.     Colleges  will  surely  be  a  part  of  the 
comMon  school  system^  and  just  as  full -of  modern  life.     I  believe"^ 
we  shall  see  the  day  when  boys  and  girls  who  are  in  the  common^ 
school  together;  without -damage,  can  be  xjo-educated  in  all  other 
grades  of  school  life.     Ttie  farmer  will  then  not  have  a  separate 
and  specific  college  for  agriculture,  while  the  rest  have  one  for. 
^mental  culture;'  nor  will  college  boys  in  those  days  be  ashamed 
to  look  ahead  to  farming  as  a  profession.    There  is  no  occupation 
that  requires  so  much  wit  and  educated  tact,  and  so  much  positive 
knowledge  as  farming.     When  we  get  the  schools,  we  shall  get  a 
style  of  farming  that  will  be  as  keenly  intellectual  as  our  present 
style  is  wasteful  and  unintelligent." 

And  yet,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  the  mission  and  purpose 
of  an  agricultural  college  must  be  constantly  defended  in  a  sta+e- 
almost  wholly  devoted  to  agriculture. 

In  conclusion  I  quote  from  Herbert  Spencer  again :  "How  to 
liveP^that  is  the  essential  question  for  us.  Xot  how  to  live, in 
the  material  sense  only,  but  in  the  widest  sense.  The  general, 
problem  which  comprehends  every  special  problem  is— the  right. 


ruling  of  conduct  in  all  directions  under  all  circumstances.  In 
what  way  to  treat  the  body ;  in  what  way  to  treat  the  mind ;  in  what 
way  to  manage  our  affairs;  in  what  way  to  bring  up  a  family;  in 
what  way  to  behave  as  a  citizen;  in  what  way  to  realize  all  those 
sources  of  happiness  which  nature  supplies — how  to  use  all  our  fac- 
ulties to  the  greatest  advantage  to  ourselves  and  others — how  to  live 
completely.  And  this  being  the  great  thing  needful  for  us  to 
learn,  is,  by  consequence,  the  great  thing  which  education  has  to 
teach.  To  prepare  us  for  complete  living  is  the  function  which 
education  has  to  discharge ;  and  the  only  rational  mode  of  judging 
of  any  educational  course  is,  to  judge  in  what  degree  it  discharges 
such  functions.^^ 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUB  ON  THE  LAST  DATB 
STAMPBD  BBLOW 

AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

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THIS   BOOK  ON   THE  DATE  DUE.   THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY    AND    TO    $1.00     ON     THE    SEVENTH     DAY 
OVERDUE. 

APR  11  1936 

LD  21-100m-7,'33 

272697 

u    ■    ^- 

1-C  10^3 


W 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CAIvIFORNIA  IvIBRARY 


